Thursday, September 13, 2007

I have never voted in my life. I lost 10 years of that power. I WILL vote, I WILL find out about the right candidates and vote for them.THAT will be my contribution. Yours?

Goodmorning Readers and Fellow Citizens,

How did you sleep last night? Nice dreams, sweet thoughts, good sex? And where were your children? Do they sleep with you or do they have a nice little room for themselves?

For, while you were sleeping a 2 and a half-year-old was raped and her throat was slit. It was a very neat slitting, should be, a 2 and a half-year old child’s skin is very soft. She died. But before she died, can you IMAGINE how much she would have CRIED when she was raped? Have you ever pulled a child’s ears, they cry a lot. And here, the child was ENTERED into. How much it would have hurt her? But of course, sorry, so you HAVE a 3-year-old son and you are the big-time editor of some big-time newspaper. It cannot happen to YOUR son, na? Are you so sure? Do you trust your child’s school bus driver? Or the nurse in the swanky toilet of the swanky air-conditioned school your baby goes to…? Are you SURE that the ayah is NOT feeling up your child INSIDE that Rs 6 lakh per annum school? And the Ministry of Mayhem will NOT do anything.

Somewhere else, a man first strangled his two daughters, they were 12 and 16 I think. So he put his fingers around their necks and squeezed and squeezed till their eyes rolled in their sockets. The mother watched helplessly. She was helpless much before. NO, he was not raping his daughters, he was ensuring no one else did once he was gone. This father LOVED his daughters; but he knew that if he left them behind, they would be raped and perhaps sold to some brothel. So, once he killed his daughters…. He killed his wife. Then, he hung himself. Because since fathers are supposed to look after a family and he could not, how could he leave them for the hyenas? THINK… What was going on his mind as he spent all that time killing the Family he had created? But then, the Powers that be ensured that it was IMPOSSIBLE for him to provide his family with a simple meal. And you know what was said? The Ministry of Mayhem said that it was His mistake and the mistake of all those like him – poor farmers who give you and me the cereal we eat in our houses and the posh bloody restaurants – that he could not look after his family. The Ministry of Mayhem will NOT do anything.

Also, while you ordered your bottles of Evian, the Delhi Development Authority, the Indian Railways and the Ministry of Mayhem in Delhi are all set to RAPE the Yamuna. By the way for those who did NOT know, the Yamuna is the DIRTIEST river in the WORLD. And you and I are drinking that water. Swimming in that water. Once that Commonwealth Games Village is up and running and it forever FINISHES the little water we have in Delhi, you will STILL have water to drink and to shower and to have bubble baths and swim? NO. No matter how many restaurants you own, you WILL suffer. The water source is the same.

And ah, the Indian Railways is going to spend Rs 125 CRORES on sound-proofing the area. WHY cannot that money be used in launching new trains? Or even improving the horrible seats in existing trains? NO, no, the Indian Railways is concerned about the 5,000 athletes who might be DISTURBED by the noise.DUDE, WHAT ABOUT THE GENERATOR NOISE AROUND MALLS THAT RESIDENTS SUFFER EVERYDAY? You, dear Ministry of Mayhem, are FOOLING us, taking OUR money, making an IDIOT out us.Rs 125 crore for TEMPORARY sound proofing.You mean we HAVE that kind of money and are NOT using it?And using it for 5000 athletes?! Delhi has 2000 times MORE people than that who will NOT get water. ALREADY in Vasant Kunj, Katwaria Sarai, Chittaranjan Park there is water shortage. And those are just three areas I have mentioned.

AND THEY WILL NOT STOP AT DELHI. They will encroach on your farm house. They will encroach on schools. They will encroach on ANYTHING that is not theirs. And if you stand up against them, they will rape your wife, have an encounter and kill you. Simple. FOR HOW LONG? And WHY are you quiet?

So Delhi has this BIG time DJ festival called BAARISH. It means Rain. Ha ha. Really? There will be NO rain once that Games Village comes up. HOW ABOUT FLATTENING THE GARDEN OF FIVE SENSES AND USING THAT LAND FOR THE VILLAGE? Would cost much less and that landscaping can be recreated after the games are over. AND please, there is NO OTHER land around Delhi for that village? ONLY the Yamuna with it's sound proofing?

I am going for a meeting today. WILL get you details, and THEN, you tell me WHY you are silent. Ok? Many of you cry hoarse about NO ONE doing anything… HOW about YOU showing some balls? Shy, are you? So fine, SHOW me spine.

For your 3 year old son. For your wife. For your mother. For YOU. This is NOT talking country, THIS is talking YOUR interest. WATCH THIS SPACE.

And remember, if you vote for an ass, you will GET an ass. Gadhe ko baap banaoge, to gadha hi baap banega. The gadha does NOT become a horse if you give it power. Look at George Bush. Hah. And remember, the East India Company FIRST got the Princes AGAINST their own people and THEN they took the states AWAY from them. WAIT and watch as it happens to You.

My contribution today: I pledge to vote and vote sensibly, in the next general elections. However trivial one out of a BILLION may sound (read tagline above to DRILL this in your head), I realise that MY VOTE COUNTS.

I will carry out my homework by finding out the truth about each candidate and spread the information among my peers. Thus I will make sure that the next government is chosen by majority agreement and NOT by majority indifference.

I completely believe that the quality of leaders reflects the quality of the nation. WHERE are we?

Like we conduct our personal financial planning and tax research – and even ask 16 people, from a fighter pilot to a rickshaw puller about what car to buy – let us start researching into a politicians’ caliber and credentials. The MEDIA can behave like a dependable tax consultant (and if not, you WILL read it here).

Let us make it hard for a politician to fool us. Let us gather information on these guys, from confirmed sources and spread THAT among fellow citizens and finally VOTE when there is an election. Let’s not choose our Government through majority INDIFFERENCE, but through majority agreement.

Those who cannot lead, should NOT be allowed to lead.But that will not happen till you and I VOTE for the people who CAN lead. OR find those people who can lead. Or BECOME the people who can lead. Don’t stay silent, the Ministry of Mayhem does not spare anyone.

10 comments:

i second every bit of what you say j. we will save the yamuna (whatever's left of it). and there's one more thing i wanna tell ya. i've voted every year since i was 18. but there's a teeny weeny problem. there's no one to vote. i'm sure all those who don't vote quote the same reason.voting isn't all. we need able candidates. we need executives to run the ministry. we need a ceo. we don;t want to choose between a kurta-clad, pan-chewing moron and a homicidal, power-crazy megalomaniac. we wanna vote for people who produce results, who turn things around.like classified ads say, "suitable candidates wanted".

At time I really cannot understand the logic of the people in power. They would agree to spend insane amounts of money for equally insane reasons. I understand that we are trying to put the "India Shining" picture in front of the whole world, but sound proofing the area, who are we kidding??? Er...did no one realise that the slums that dot the city are going to be a dead give away?? And no, it is not just the Ministry of Mayhem, it trickles down to the last teeny-tiny link.Take of example, our university. One fine day they decided to cut down half the trees in campus. When we protested and asked the reason, these are the answers we got:1. They are building a nursery in the same plot!2. Some trees are old, and shallow rooted and can fall any day (these were the trees that when cut down had GREEN stems3. Some trees are way too deep rooted and they are posing the danger to the structures around4. They are a security risks, because people can climb on them to enter/exit the campus (we have zero security at the gate, so why anyone would take such pains, when they can WALK in, is anyone's guess)

The fact is that when people think they do not need to be answerable to anyone, or they can outsmart/overpower the people they need to answer to, then they start feeling invincible.

And once corruption becomes a way of life, then cutting it down become a HUGE task.

As you said, voting is extremely important, but more than that, I think the citizens should take active interest in governance. When the governments at the state and the center realise that there are a billion eyes on every step that they take, they'll HAVE to watch where they are going.

On a different note, the in bit about child abuse, you have mentioned the "bus driver" and the "ayah" for abusers. I'm sure you did not meant it to be that way, but this reinforces the misconception that only the lower strata of the society/the uneducated resort to abusing gullible children. That 3 year old is just under threat from his big-shot businessman uncle, or mighty editor of the mighty newspaper next door.

i dont know if i was scared reading this.... scared for my country. it was equally provocative.

since a long time when i started "thinking" about the future, my mind has always dwindled between FEAR & PROVOCATION. this maybe because i cud never come up with anything satisfactory... logical conclusion.this helplessness is suffocating.here i am ... a middle class guy... 9 to 9 smooth job which i love. in a make or break stage of life. now i ask -

where is the problem?- it this a constitutional flaw- is this something wrong with our judicial system- or if its about the shitizens, how do they pitch in correctly?take my case, how do i help here?

i am still in my quest to figure & help weed out the problem at its grass roots.

until recently, with the explosion of internet & media, things have been looking up. finally a ray of light. a handful of people in media are making a difference. which again sends me thinking if its the job of media to put things in perspective. i find it ridiculous... but thats what is happening at the moment. for the better (or for the worse i dunno)

When something so obvious is right infront,which anyone with even a slight common sense can grab,that not having the games village at the Yamuna riverbed will save the river as well as the entire region,WHY would the government still not give up on building it on the river bed??As i read somewhere,the opponents of the government comprise of an assorted group of environmentalists, local farmers, social activists and members of Delhi Resident Welfare Associations as well as local villagers.Is the government telling us that these people are so wrong and are fighting for no cause???Waiting to read on your meeting with the Yamuna activists,JBo.

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60-years-of-Indepedence: Does it matter? Some things - both good and bad - have not changed. We cannot answer if one person can make a difference. Usually, for one person to make ANY difference, he/she needs MORE PEOPLE behind them. This is one start, hoping more would join. In the time of superheroes, this country needs a Hero. We are not the heroes. We are the anti-heroes. Show allegiance, join in, we need more people to write, click pics, discuss, draw, shoot videos... whatever. Whenever you want to, or talk and share stories. A course in writing or workshop is not needed, just a will and a want are. Don't send friend requests. We don't care for friends. But we care for ideas. It is our country, and yours; and we are not bothered about those who don't care. Yet. Email: jhoomur@gmail.com

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